Lesbos

A total of 450 migrants who arrived in Lesvos after March 1 will be transferred by navy ship to closed camps on the mainland ahead of their deportation, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said in a television interview on Saturday.

Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has urged Greece to immediately evacuate migrants from overcrowded camps on its islands due to a high risk of the coronavirus spreading swiftly among people living in squalid conditions.

Just 61 refugees and migrants arrived at the islands of the northeastern Aegean by late Thursday, Greek authourities said.
Of those arrivals, 24 people reached northern Lesvos and 37 disembarked in Samos.

Kathimerini investigates the change of mood on Lesvos that was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for its exemplary response to the first refugee arrivals of 2015.

Seven residents of Lesvos have been indicted to appear before a prosecutor at the island's main port of Mytilene in connection with an attack on two volunteer workers for the Swiss "One Happy Family" whose recreation facilities for migrants on the island were destroyed last week in a fire whose cause is still being investigated.

A video posted on Twitter on Wednesday showed the harassment of a vessel of the Greek Coast Guard by a Turkish Coast Guard boat off the Greek island of Kos. 

In the video, which was posted by the correspondent of Germany's Bild in Greece,  Greek Coast Guard officers on the boat can be heard saying, "they hit us from behind, they broke the edge." 

"Unfortunately, tension is growing the past three weeks, with the islanders feeling tired of lifting the burden of the so-called refugee crisis all these years," Stravaridis told BIRN.

He said MSF staff on the island of Lesvos had recently faced two violent incidents, resulting in the closure of an MSF clinic on the island for two days.

On this International Women's Day I'm thinking about the thousands of women at Moria who struggle every day against the odds to stay healthy, feed their children, keep their dignity and survive to see a better day.

Activists helping migrants in distress in the Aegean Sea have been adrift off the island of Lesvos for a week after agitators opposed to their work refused to let their ship dock, they said on Monday.

Activists on board the Mare Liberum said the vessel was prevented from docking in Lesvos on two occasions.

A 40-year-old woman on the island of Lesvos has been admitted to hospital after showing symptoms similar to the coronavirus, according to local media reports.